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Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store have both rejected a simple app designed to help people stay within Instagram and Facebook’s overzealous nudity rules.
The ban appears to focus almost entirely on making sure people can’t see women’s nipples. Men’s, however, tend to be fine in a bizarre application of rules. Hence the arrival of the ‘Nood’ app, which provides illustrations body parts, like nipples.
Melina DiMarco, the app’s creator, told the Beeb that the existing options (black bars, crosses, etc.) for covering up any disallowed nudity promote slapping “cutesy” stickers on images to cover up any nudity.
Apple and Google saw it differently, and both blocked it from going onto their respective app stores. Both cited similar reasons around apps containing “sexually explicit content” being banned.
DiMarco argues that both stores already contain a huge amount of content that over-sexualises women.
“If you’re going to allow those things in the app store then minimally illustrated lady parts should be in there too.
Women deserve to represent their bodies on their own terms and they deserve to show their nipples just like any man does.”
DiMarco is continuing to try and get the stores to accept the app, but there’s no joy as yet.
Read next: Facebook, why are you such a prude about sex?
